New prop system

[dlopes]

Hi Ricardo,

IÃ"šÃ‚´ve just realised that you had this wonder in your garage!!! I was way far from this... and we are so close to each other!

I must visit you soon - has you know I really want a frag of that Turbinária!!!!!

IÃ"šÃ‚´ll give you a call tomorrow.

Cheers,
Diogo

PS - why on earth didnÃ"šÃ‚´t you share this wonder in the portuguese foruns???!!!!

 

[Mongoose]

Ricardo,

awesome system.. what thickness glass are you using.. and are the edges polished ?

looks great ! cant wait to see more!

Joe

 

[RRodrigues]

Thanks Diogo and Mongoose! The glass thickness is 1/2" (12mm) and edges are perfectly polished. Soon I'm going to fill it with NSW. I must get also the lighting for it, it's going to be 3 x 150W HQI + 2 x 58W actinic T8

Regards

 

[jer77]

Your tank is very similar to mine, and even better. Mines 36"x25"x12". I used to have sand on the bottom but went to a BB since its so shallow. I have a sump attached with a refugium, LR, and LS. I like how yours is long and I think its the right height with the sand bed. Are you going to put fish into your second one?

 

[RRodrigues]

No fish in the prop tanks jer77, just corals! Do you have fish in yours?

 

[CamBarr]

PM Sent

 

[jer77]

No, I saw you had cardinals in yours. I used to have a small percula though before it got sucked down the drain. Some people have fish in their prop tanks, I do agree that no fish is better. I love your sarcophyton frags, did you just cut up a big one?

 

[RRodrigues]

I really like Sarcophyton too, I think now I'll cut the frags themselves to produce new ones. These come from a medium sized one.

 

[incoma]

Nice job
How high is first tank of the ground how high will the second tank be off the ground?
Also could you post a picture of how the lights are installed.

 

[jpm]

Olá Ricardo,

Nice system, IÃ"šÃ‚´m think that IÃ"šÃ‚´ve to do something similar. I live in Murtal and I have to visit you.

João Paulo

 

[jman77]

Really nice work! What kind of silicon on you using to build the tanks ?

 

[malkier22]

looks Great!!

 

[RRodrigues]

incoma, the heigth of the first prop tank is 35" (+12" tank) and the second is 60" (+8" tank). What do you want to see exactly about the lights? I've just a DIY luminaire with 3 x 150W HQI and 2 x 58W T8 actinics, the luminaire is on the eurobracing.

jpm You're welcome to visit me and see all my reef tanks!

jman77 I'm using transparent silicone from Henkel and black silicone from Rhodia.

Thanks for all the comments. I must put new photos now because the 2nd prop tank is already running (without lights).

 

[RRodrigues]

2nd prop tank is already filled with NSW and both tanks are now sharing the same sump. As this tank is going to be for hard corals only I'm not sure if sump sharing is good for both. I'm affraid alellopathy could slow growth rates, what do you think?

Some photos:

pine wood structure

outflow to sump (40mm PVC)

 

[sammy33]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7363072#post7363072 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RRodrigues
2nd prop tank is already filled with NSW and both tanks are now sharing the same sump. As this tank is going to be for hard corals only I'm not sure if sump sharing is good for both. I'm affraid alellopathy could slow growth rates, what do you think?

RRodrigues-
You have built a super nice propagation system. I have been following your thread and would like to thank you for sharing your experience.

Ideally I would want to have seperate systems for the different types on corals. Calfo suggests completely seperate systems for Scleractinians and soft corals in order to avoid exposure to allelopathic compounds especially for coral farming.

On the other hand:
Daniel Knop on soft coral propagation - "If the water turnover for each tank is not too great (the entire tank volume once per hour) and granular activated carbon is used in the bottom tank (sump), it is our experience that the species in one tank will not affect the growth of species in the neighboring tanks."
http://web.archive.org/web/20010211...om/fish2/aqfm/1997/oct/features/2/default.asp

Are you running any activated carbon media in your sump? This may help to reduce the amount of allelopathic compounds in the water escpecially if the system has a slower flow through the two tanks and your sump. You could supplement water movement in the tank that requires the higher flow (top tank?) with some power heads or airlifts.

More frequent water changes may be required especially after producing divisions as some of the Octocorals, Corallimorphs and Zoanthids release many noxious compounds when stressed.

 

[Mongoose]

Ricardo,

any updates on your system ?

Joe

 

[RRodrigues]

Hi,

It's never too late to thank you Sammy for your help, actually I've decided to follow what you've said and build another sump to separate the 2 prop tanks. I've finnaly build the RO/DI reservoir (30gal) for both systems and now I'm wondering how can I use just 1 osmolator to function with both systems??

Joe, tomorrow I'll post new photos.

Regards

 

[CamBarr]

sweet prop set up

 

[RRodrigues]

I didn't find anyone using 1 osmolator (Tunze) to work with 2 independent tanks, any thoughts on this would be great. I guess evaporation will be similar in both tanks as water surface, lighting and pumps (same heat produced) would be the same.

I'm now setting up a Calcium reactor (Aquamedic Calcium Reactor 1000) for better calcium and alkalinity.

The upper tank is working just with LR, I'm planning to add some live sand too.

New photos:

Upper tank sump. New outflow to new sump at right

New sump and RO/DI 30gal reservoir

Lobophytum pauciflorum frag - Devil's hand

At the center one of my favourite coral - Psammocora sp.

Green zoanthids

 

[RRodrigues]